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dvipadānañca

dvipada

nominative/accusative plural neuter + ca (and); substantive adjective

1. two footed; with two feet
2. biped; two-footed being; (comm) man, bird etc.
3. two words; two lines of verse

Built from

• dvi — prefix · two
  From PIE *dwi-. Cognate with English two, Latin duo, Greek dyo. Marks duality or pairing.
• pada — root · foot
  From PIE *ped-. Cognate with English foot, Latin pes, Greek pous. Literal base meaning, also used abstractly for metrical units (pāda as verse-foot).
• ānaṃ — ending · genitive plural
  Marks the plural genitive case; here used attributively in a nominative/accusative construction (dvipadānaṃ functioning as substantival adjective, 'the two-footed ones').
• ca — prefix · and
  Enclitic conjunction. Attaches to the previous word to coordinate it with what follows in the list.

Analysis. dvipadānaṃ (gen. pl. of dvipada, two-footed) + ca (and, enclitic conjunction): 'two-footed ones and', or 'and two-footed beings'. Common in the canon listing categories of sentient life (e.g., alongside catupadā 'four-footed').

Etymology. dvi- (two, from PIE *dwi-, cognate with English two, Latin duo, Greek dyo) + pada (foot, from PIE *ped-, cognate with English foot, Latin pes, Greek pous). The compound names any creature with two feet as a defining trait.

Meanings from the Digital Pāḷi Dictionary; morphology and etymology by Claude.

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